The "efficiency" of the USPS is staggering.

[prsman23]

Not the first time mind you.... and they wonder why they are failing.

To get a package 18 miles from Edwardsville to my house in Belleville.
They took it 254 miles to Lenexa Kansas.
From Lenexa to St. Louis (262 miles)
And St Louis to my home 17.5 miles.
For a grand total of 533.5 miles.




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[XDROB]

They are all the same. FedEx shipment from Groton Ct to Windsor Ct.
Total of about 60 miles. Went to their hub in Kentucky then to the Windsor address.

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[TexasGrunt]

Not the first time mind you.... and they wonder why they are failing.

To get a package 18 miles from Edwardsville to my house in Belleville.
They took it 254 miles to Lenexa Kansas.
From Lenexa to St. Louis (262 miles)
And St Louis to my home 17.5 miles.
For a grand total of 533.5 miles.




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Blame the bean counters and consolidation. It used to be that clerks sorted mail at the local level. Now it all goes to consolidated distribution centers.

[RogerDat]

USPS is actually run well under budget and its volume of deliveries is greater in a month than the next largest delivery service in a year.
For less than 1/2 the price of a cup of coffee I can send several pages anywhere in the country. For $7 I can send 25# of lead anyplace in the country and they do it under budget and at a profit. Yes the hub and spoke method has costs in terms of transport but the efficiencies gained by NOT hand sorting and only buying the expensive sorting equipment at the hubs is one thing that helps keep them operating in the black.

Well documented that Congress is milking and bilking the profits to help shore up the budget. Stopping it would require them to cut spending so they won't do it. Simply put Congress ordered the USPS to way over fund their pension, at a set amount that exceeds their profits, then further orders that they borrow the money to make up the difference from Treasury AND invest the pension in T-Bills (a loan to the government). So Treasury loans post office money that the post office gives back to the Treasury along with all their profits and Congress counts it ALL as annual revenue in the budget. So they don't fail so much as Congress embezzles their profits and then some. Which also hampers the USPS ability to improve equipment and services.

At one point USPS wanted to get into long term storage of documents and data, made sense, they have all these large storage and shipping facilities. Congress ordered them not to do it. Wonder who got what contribution from which industry group (hint: commercial document storage companies don't want competition from USPS with massive fleet + storage infrastructure).

[lightman]

I guess there is a method to the madness! Overall, I have had good service from the USPS. Airlines are the same way. Very seldom do you get a direct flight from point A to point B without going someplace else first.

[lefty o]

im not super impressed. at least twice a week i get mail that shouldnt have been delivered here. sometimes its a neighbors, sometimes it should be 8 blocks away , and once in a while its not even the right city! guess thats part of the reason mailing keeps getting more expensive, they have to redeliver the same piece multiple times.

[Alstep]

Last year I sent a check to a man in Florida, took 6 weeks to get there from NY. Guy thought I cut out on the deal, couldn't blame him.
Sent a priority flat rate box to a man in the midwest, (can't remember where right now), checked the tracking # and they lost it for a few days. Took almost 2 weeks to get there and then wouldn't deliver it because it was too heavy, it was less than 70#. My, My, so overworked and over stressed!

[prsman23]

Yeah. The odd thing is I've had them go from Edwardsville to belleville with no in between before. Next day delivery with the same postage rate.



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[prsman23]

im not super impressed. at least twice a week i get mail that shouldnt have been delivered here. sometimes its a neighbors, sometimes it should be 8 blocks away , and once in a while its not even the right city! guess thats part of the reason mailing keeps getting more expensive, they have to redeliver the same piece multiple times.

Don't get me started on this one lol. Almost every week. Sometimes (read: most times) two or three times a week they deliver packages to my house (N) from S and vice versa. The streets are separated by Main Street. And our names are nowhere close.
Maddening.
I highlight S on the package, envelope, magazine, etc and shove it back in the mailbox. Think they'd get it after 4 years???? Nope.


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[OS OK]

The USPS is a great institution . . . . . . to test your best packaging skills...they can destroy your best efforts...effortlessly!

[Geezer in NH]

Maybe they should hire Uber drivers for situations like yours and then charge what it costs to YOU. [sarcasm/off]

[prsman23]

Maybe you should re-read all my posts[sarcasm off]
I never said they needed to drive right to my house.
I said that going to Kansas seems silly.
Especially when I have had packages go from the Edwardsville post office to the Belleville post office previously.
Also that i have had other packages go to the big sorting center in St Louis before as well.



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[DerekP Houston]

I've had a few packages get 'lost' and delayed for weeks on end but almost everything turned up eventually. I can't honestly say UPS or FEDEX are really any much better and they cost considerably more. I do wish their tracking was more accurate though.

[TexasGrunt]

If you're having a misdelivery problem then there is something you can do about it.

1. Document! Take pictures with your phone, keep count. If your neighbors are having the same problem then get them involved too. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

2. Contact the stupidvisor at your delivery office. Show them the documentation.

3. Or call 1-800-ASK-USPS and complain. This path creates a paper trail that stupidvisors HATE.

4. If that fails go over the stupidvisor's head.



If you have a regular carrier and they've been on the route more than six months they should be delivering by name. Almost all the letter class mail is sorted by machine and not touched by human hands till your carrier delivers it. That doesn't excuse mistakes. The machines are around 97-98% accurate. It's up to the delivery person to catch that other 2-3%. When the advise I gave above is followed things will change. I've seen it happen several times. If you have a regular carrier and don't know their name then shame on you too.

If you don't have a regular carrier it becomes even more important to document and complain. It will cause things to change.

There's a file for every carrier that has every complaint and compliment they've ever received in it. I can tell you that those in the trenches hardly ever hear about the compliments but always hear about the complaints.

At my old station we had an auxiliary route for a while. That's a route that's too small to have a regular carrier, so it gets catch as catch can. Living on an AUX route can be true hell. But if enough people complain things will change.

[00buck]

Was it a 65lb flat rate box of lead?

[bubba.50]

on the other side of the coin, I traded guns a while back with a feller in Winchester Va. since we're both residents of Va. & could legally do so we shipped direct to each other. I used USPS Priority Mail he insisted on usin' a "real shipper" & went UPS.

the one I sent him went straight up I-81 and he got it the next day. the one he sent UPS went from Winchester to Hagerstown MD, to Charleston WV, to Chattanooga TN, to Charlotte NC, right by the house up I-81 to Roanoke VA then back to Dublin & then onto the truck to my house.

[BigMagShooter]

if you are having real trouble with the USPS, ask the Postmaster at your branch if they know what 'congressionals' are. Watch their ears perk up.

[ichthyo]

Privatize the USPS. They are a huge drain on the budget with crazy salaries and pensions.

[cptjack]

so I guess you we paid low wages v, with no pension ,jealous

[prsman23]

on the other side of the coin, I traded guns a while back with a feller in Winchester Va. since we're both residents of Va. & could legally do so we shipped direct to each other. I used USPS Priority Mail he insisted on usin' a "real shipper" & went UPS.

the one I sent him went straight up I-81 and he got it the next day. the one he sent UPS went from Winchester to Hagerstown MD, to Charleston WV, to Chattanooga TN, to Charlotte NC, right by the house up I-81 to Roanoke VA then back to Dublin & then onto the truck to my house.

HA! Too funny! I know none of them are perfect. Just perplexed sometimes!


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